Coll 28/109 ‘Persia. Anglo-Soviet-Persian Treaty of Alliance, 1942.’ [‎15r] (29/442)

COPY
1178
(E 259/82/34)
MKKORAMDUU
<
By the joint note of the Soviet and British Governments
of the 50th August, 1941, addressed to the Iranian government it
was established that Soviet troops should temporarily occupy regions
to the north of the line traversing the following points; locality •
of Ushnuieh, Haiderabad, Miyanduab, Zinjan, Kazvin, Khurramabad,
Babol, Zeerab, Samnan, Shahrud and Ali-abad‘; and the British troops
should temporarily occupy the regions to the south and west of the
line traversing the points Khanaqin, Kermanshah, Khurramabad,
Meshed-i-Suliman, Khorast-kel, Gakhsarar}, Ramkhorkaz and
Bandar-dilan. Thus, by the aforementioned note of the Soviet and
British Governments, the zones’ of where Soviet and British troops
in Iran should be stationed were precisely fixed.
Later on during the negotiations of the draft Treaty of
Alliance between the U.S.S.R., Great Britain and Iran, the Soviet-
Government, through its Ambassador in London, Maisky, made, on
the 14th October, 1941, a written communication to the Foreign
Secretary, Mr. Eden, that the right resulting from clause 4 of the
Treaty (the right to maintain military forces on Iranian territory)
should be used by mutual agreement between the Soviet and British
Governments. In a letter of the 21st October, 1941, in reply to
this communication Mr. Eden said that he was "happy to confirm that
"His Majesty’s Government shares the view of the Soviet Government
"on this point and that we had no intention of making any changes in
"the disposition of our forces in Persia without consulting the
"Soviet Government." In a supplementary letter of the 21st November,
1941, Mr. Eden explained that they did not, of course, suggest that
either of the Governments should consult the other on every occasion
when small bodies of troops may happen to be moved in the occupied
parts of Persia,-but that they would be dealt with by the local
commanders in the ordinary course of their duties.
The Treaty of Alliance concluded on the 29th January, 1942,
secured to the U.S.S.R. and Great Britain all these rights with
regard to the control of Iranian communications and maintenance of
troops in Iran, about the joint use of which a full understanding was
already reached between the.Soviet and British Governments. During
the period which followed the signature of the Treaty of Alliance
there were no considerable changes or movements in the disposition of
the Soviet troops occupying the zone of Iran assigned to them. On
the other hand, during 1942, there occurred very important changes in
- the disposition of the British troops on the territory of Iran,
j g* Changes which go far beyond the despatch of small military bodies,
and also very considerable changes in the location of British
■garrisons in Iran. British garrisons of the varied strength and
, 0 numbers were stationed at points which far exceeded the borders of
S the fcone fixed by the note of. August, 1941, as for instance,
< IZ .Sum |Arak, Hamadan, Zahidan^ jjfaBpp*
In addition the/ SoviSt^Government received information that
^ ci the British authoriti es, pwith&^any understanding being reached with
the jboviet representative's^'sin are carrying out the construction
Hpf^'vjarious military estab>i'Bhmerit's, outside the zone which was
assigned for British troops^to be stationed in Iran. For instance,
v~< In the regions of Zahidan,'zabola, Birjand, Hamadan, 50 kilometres to
'the south of Kazvin and at other points, the British authorities are
o * constructing military aej^odromes and landing grounds. The
jjjepr jsentatives of the British Command are making topographical
surveys/